Ethiopia's Konso tools push the earliest Acheulean back to 1.75 million years
In short: Researchers who dated and analysed stone tools from the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia found that the region's earliest Acheulean tools are about 1.75 million years old, the same age as the oldest known Acheulean assemblage in Kenya. The toolkit combined large picks with early handaxes from the start.
The find suggests this toolmaking tradition - large flakes shaped into picks and handaxes - was emerging in more than one place around the same time, alongside early Homo erectus-like humans. Konso handaxes gained more flake scars over time, a sign of finer shaping, while picks changed less, hinting the two served different functions.
The findings rest on new dating and comparison of stone tool assemblages from the Konso Formation, spanning about 1.75 million to under 1 million years ago. The study describes patterns in tool shape over time but cannot directly observe how the tools were used.
Why it matters: Shows that sophisticated stone tool-making arose as early as 1.75 million years ago, and probably across a wider region than once thought.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Research: Beyene et al. (2013). The characteristics and chronology of the earliest Acheulean at Konso, Ethiopia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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